Metropolitan Imageworks

Maisy and Leah are sisters and the awesome, lovable pooches of my cousin.  I’ll take more photos of them this Thanksgiving weekend as we all camp in the Mojave Preserve!  Bring it Turkey Meatloaf!!

Here’s my friend Maddox, back on the blog for her 9 month portrait session.  I have this little munchkin trained, I swear each time I put my camera to my eye she looked straight at me grinned!!! Too cute!  Can’t wait to see her again in February for her one year session.  I’m excited to see what antics another three months brings.

See how Maddox hams it up for my camera?!

Even Grandma & Grandpa joined in the fun!

Still cracks me up!

One set of parents, three daughters, one son-in-law, one uncle and 5 dogs.  And I got everyONE looking at the camera!  I had been waiting to meet Winnie the doodle for months, as I had photographed her ‘mom’ and ‘dad’s’ wedding in Phoenix in 2008.  Former Chicagoans, they aptly named their pooch Winfrey and she is known Winnie for short.  I was in AZ for a day for portraits and the Thomas family had me photograph their whole group plus furry friends. I was in heaven for the entire shoot!

Last Wednesday in Phoenix dawned bright and early and warm.  I met up with the Klem family for a portrait session with the entire clan.  Barb & Steve rented a lovely house for a couple months and during the final week their two children, spouses and three grandchildren made themselves at home.  The grandkids were such troopers during the group photos and individual family photos and they were rewarded with pool time afterwards.  I couldn’t help but stay and hang out on the deck while photographing their antics and splashing.

I have been photographing AJ and Adam for the past three years and I was delighted to be invited to photographed their extended family in Arizona right before Thanksgiving.  The entire crew of 12 met up with me at the Scottsdale Civic Center. It was a fantastic location and about 6 other photographers and families had the same idea that afternoon. Thankfully we were able to spread out and I only had to engage in a small rumble to get a desired spot. I kid, I kid, no punches or offensive comments were made.

The grandparents and the ones responsible for the entire bunch!

Their offspring.

The grandkids – aren’t they cute!?

The entire group of 12!!!

Just a few more of the fun and shenanigans of the rest of our session.

Happy Holidays to your entire family!

Susan and Scott’s wedding day was perfect – the weather, the wedding party, the locations, the family & guests and of course my favorite part – the Gelato station during cocktail hour at the reception. The entire day was filled with emotion, colorful shoes, fun parasols and of course a candy buffet bursting at the seams.

I’ve been waiting a long time to work with Susan and Scott as the winners of the Metropolitan Imageworks January 2009 Unique Proposal Contest that we hosted in conjunction with our booth at the wedding expo in Phoenix.  Susan submitted their story and the staff at Metimages voted on their proposal as most unique. To see more detail on the contest visit the blog post.

Ceremony: Saint Maria Goretti Catholic Church, Scottsdale, AZ

Reception: Scottsdale Country Club, Scottsdale, AZ

DJ: Ray the DJ, Tempe, AZ

Gelato Stand: Gelato 64, Chandler, AZ

Florist: Fiori Floral, Scottsdale, AZ

Be warned this post includes a lot of teasers!  I have been waiting to photograph Abby and Zach since last fall and we were finally able to get all of our schedules matched up while I was in town last weekend.  Abby and Zach are the dear children of a friend that I have known for 20+ years.  I met their mom one summer at overnight camp and we became fast friends – growing up in the suburbs close to Chicago, on a swim team together and of course life-guarding at the community pools together for a few years as well.  I was excited to learn they lived near Phoenix and even more excited to be asked to take their family portraits!

Abby is an adorable four-year old with a typical four-year old vocabulary, although she is fluent in American Sign Language, she is a bundle of energy, fast to make friends and steal your heart. As soon as Abby saw my camera she was quick to primp and pose and even try to take a few pictures on her own.  Zach is her giggly two-year-old brother who greeted me with a huge smile, brotherly antics and his awesome head full of curls!

We had a blast playing near the desert flowers in bloom and along the path that leads to Poopa’s house!

Thank you for having me out. I think we should make this an annual event!

Michelle and I met up last Friday morning in the outskirts of Phoenix to shoot some portraits of her on her bike.  You might recall Michelle was one of my 2009 Arizona brides and now I am helping her with a new project.  She has recently gotten back into being an avid bicyclist and spends her mornings peddling, coasting, enduring and sweating along the roads north of Phoenix. We spent a couple hours together with Michelle racing around and looping back while I photographed her in action. And repeat. One more time. OK a couple more times. Circle around again. One more loop. Etc, etc, etc. I still think she had the easy part, just ride like the wind, while I got to dodge cars, crawl around, lay on the pavement, pick gravel out of my knees and so on.  Working on new photography projects is definitely exciting and challenging.

I’m not 100% sure what this sign was for in Adrian, TX but I like it.  I’ll find a way to work it into everyday conversation from here on out.

My favorite photographer in action.

One of our tourist stops was at Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico. Fortunately for us and for Mater, they have a kennel on site in a modest but air conditioned room. This further encourages visitors not to leave their dogs in hot cars while visiting the caverns. It was a great $5.00 investment and allowed Vic and I to take a one and a half hour tour of the Big Room and enjoy the attraction of the caverns.  I’m not so sure Mater enjoyed himself, but at least he was comfy in the AC and had food and water and a place to lay down.

We spent a night in El Paso, TX and visited the missions in the morning before rolling out of town. It’s humbling to experience these structures that were built in the 1600′s and 1800′s and they are still around and in use today.

Socorro

San Elizario

Ysleta

We made a side trip to the Hohokam ruins of Casa Grande in Coolidge, AZ, just south of Phoenix. Of course it had to be 104 on Saturday, so we didn’t stay too long. Besides, I had a photo session to get to that afternoon.

Mater has outgrown his puppy bed so we stopped into PetSmart and got him a new big boy bed, he spent a LOT of time snuggled it on on the trek home.

Monument Valley looked impressive as the storm clouds rolled in, unfortunately it was raining and pretty gusty by the time we got to Arches National Park, so we did our version of Hit N’ Run Sightseeing ™ and drove through for a few miles. We’ll come back another day. It’s good to have a National Parks Pass.

San Juan River just outside of Mexican Hat, Utah.

The Mexican Hat. Personally I see more of a robot than a dude in a hat.

Along the way we stopped to get some cool storm photos. It’s all about being in the right place at the right time!

Close up of the lightening strike in the above photo.

More of my project in the works . . .

About seven years ago I had the honor of photographing Jessica and Josh’s wedding in the Chicagoland area.  We had all grown up in the north ‘burbs and attended the same high school.  It was great fun working with them on their wedding day, and it was fairly close to my own wedding as well so we had a lot in common and a lot to talk about and shared some of the same vendors.  Then about six years ago Jessica and Josh moved to Phoenix (those smart, smart people!)  They’ve since added a dog and a son to their family.

I was delighted to meet up with them this morning at Papago Park in Phoenix and meet Evan and take portraits and do a little hiking on the trails. Well, as much hiking as you can doin 98 degree weather and an almost 3-year old in tow!